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A GUIDE TO HELICOPTERS
IN CINEMA & TELEVISION

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The Damned (aka: These Are The Damned, 1963) - the final sequence of this SF chiller features a pair of Westland S-55 Whirlwind machines, which chase a 'getaway' vehicle speeding down a coast road and force the car to stop. Crewmen from the helicopters then 'kidnap' a child that had escaped from the secret military bunker. One of the circling choppers also tracks a motorboat off the Dorset shoreline. Along with director Joseph Losey's later thriller, Figures In A Landscape (1970), this British film, produced by Hammer Studios, was instrumental in forming modern cinema's familiar depiction of helicopters as symbols of oppressive government power.

Dance Of The Dwarves (1983) - Gus Trikonis relies heavily on chemistry between the stars (Peter Fonda and Deborah Raffin) in this bizarre comedy horror about a female anthropologist hiring a drunken helicopter pilot to help with her jungle search for a lost tribe of pygmies.

Danger: Diabolik (1968) - Mario Bava's comicbook adventure mixes fantasy and crime with John Philip Law as the titular antihero. During an early chase, the police surveillance helicopter (a Bell 47 with pontoons), in pursuit of Diabolik's black E-type Jaguar along a coast road, carries a marksman who shoots at the robber's getaway vehicle, and makes it crash into the sea - but the cunning thief has already switched cars. In addition to the familiar Bell chopper, this sequence - somewhat inexplicably, I think - features brief shots of another helicopter (without a side door, bigger cabin, enclosed tail boom), the 1960s' Bell 47 J-2, rarely seen in movies.

Dante's Peak (1997) - "the film's heroic US geologists hire a Bell TH-1L Iroquois to fly them out to the crater of the volcano early in the film to investigate it. Later, when the volcano is actually erupting and spewing thick clouds of ash into the sky, and the citizens of Dante's Peak are running around willy-nilly in a wild panic, the 'asshole pilot', already established as being quite a mercenary, offers to fly people out of town, for thousands of dollars per person. Only the town's rich people have that kind of money so they clamber aboard and the helicopter takes off. Of course, volcanic ash gets sucked into the chopper's engine and the pilot loses control. The 'Huey' nosedives, hits the ground, then bounces (conveniently flying over the SUV carrying heroes Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton) and sails through the air where it crashes into a gas station, which of course violently explodes. - BILL HIERS

The Dark Knight

(2008) - this excellent sequel to Batman Begins features one of the most spectacular urban helicopter crashes yet filmed. Using a mix of real machine, CGI, and physical effects, a Gotham city police chopper (a Bell 206B, from Sun Aero Helicopters, Chicago) that's expected to provide air cavalry support is brought down when it flies into cables above the street, causing it to spin out of control, smash into the front of a building, and hit the ground as burning wreckage in the path of an armoured vehicle. "That's not good!" exclaims the SWAT van's passenger. The film also features a Eurocopter AS-355N, which appears during the heroes' mission to Hong Kong, and there's a Bell 430, used by Bruce Wayne for his dramatic arrival to a penthouse party. Before the climactic scenes, a pair of US Army 'Huey' types fly-by; just to help establish the presence of National Guard troops within the city during a terrorist crisis.

Gotham police Bell 206 helicopter used in The Dark Knight

DARKMAN

Dark Skies (1996-7) - this UFO conspiracy sci-fi TV series had the original 'black helicopters' in several scenes, unmarked black Sikorskys used to transport Captain Frank Bach (J.T. Walsh) and his cronies. - BERND BIEGE

Dawn Of The Dead (1979) - George A. Romero's comic zombie horror movie has SWAT cops and their friends escaping in a helicopter from the beseiged city to an out-of-town shopping mall. Later, in a struugle with the heroes, one zombie gets killed when the top of his head is sliced off by whirling rotor blades.

Dawn Of The Dead (2004) - Snyder's remake of Romero's great zombie horror is enjoyably grisly entertainment, and it features appearances by a couple of helicopters. In one aerial scene, tracking the heroine's car along a suburban road, a Bell JetRanger swoops into view and banks right, off-screen. Later, when the survivors are holed up in the shopping mall, a mighty Sikorsky S-80 Super Sea Stallion passes by overhead, but does not respond to SOS messages painted on the building's rooftop.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - this SF disaster movie, about global warming causing a new Ice Age, features a scene where three helicopters crash in Scotland after the sudden chill of climatic change freezes their fuel lines. The digital effects used to realise this sequence are not very convincing. In another fairly spectacular, but unimaginative aerial set-piece, the crew of a TV news helicopter observe a blitz of tornado storms ripping apart some of Los Angeles' landmark buildings.
"For the movie, a fleet of Boeing CH-47 Chinooks was planned for the rescue at the end. The US Army was helping the production as best it could but, because most of the Army's domestic stocks of Chinooks were overseas at the time, they could only provide a single machine. All the rest are CGI. Also, for the shots of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks, the US Army helped take apart a Black Hawk to fit it in front of a blue screen on an indoor set for some of the digital effects shots. Two flying examples of the Black Hawk were also provided for live-action shots." - NATHAN DECKER

Day Of Atonement (1992) - the villain of this gangster drama kills his enemies by dropping them out of a helicopter, hovering at altitude, onto the grounds of his estate.

Day Of The Animals (1977) - this nature's revenge thriller (in which solar radiation drives wildlife crazy) by William Girdler has a group of hikers dropped off in the Sierra mountains by helicopter, just before a regional quarantine is announced.

Day Of The Dead (1985) - chopper flights bookend this final movie in George Romero's zombie trilogy. The opening flight scene over a town controlled by the grotesque undead is very creepy.

The Day Of The Triffids (1981) - in the sixth and last episode of this British TV series, adapted from the classic SF novel by John Wyndham, there's the brief appearance of a Bell 47 (supplied by Bristow Helicopters), which visits the heroes' retreat in a Wiltshire farmhouse before returning to another group of survivors on the Isle of Wight.

Day The Earth Caught Fire (1961) - a helicopter appears (during the special effects shots) to get aerial press photos of London during the fog sequence.

Apache circles alien starship in Day the Earth Stood Still remake

The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) - this remake of 1951's classic sci-fi movie has Boeing CH-46 transports, AH-64 Apache gunships, and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks in various CGI scenes. The heroine scientist boards a twin-rotor Sea Knight for her flight to Manhattan, where military helicopters circle the giant sphere of a spaceship. In one later scene, the visiting alien uses weird powers to damage a pair of low-hovering Black Hawk helicopters, making them crash into each other and their burning wreckage falls into the background woodlands.

The Day The Earth Stopped (2008) - this no-budget sci-fi movie's poor-quality CGI includes a military helicopter (possibly a Black Hawk design), that's zapped from the sky by a giant alien robot.

DEADLY ENCOUNTER

Death Note 3 - L: Change The World (2008) - after the 'plague' outbreak in a Thailand village, a camouflage-painted Huey (armed with rocket pods) chases and attacks fleeing survivors. The low-flying chopper hovers in an off-road clearing, halts the pickup truck and then destroys it (off-screen) in an explosion. Later, there's a MBB/ Kawasaki BK 117 B-1 (licence-built Eurocopter) flying ambulance to medevac a young boy to hospital.

Death Race (2008) - this remake of Death Race 2000 (1975) features a pair of A-Star gunships, with rocket pods, chasing final two cars during the hero's off-track escape on the bridge from island prison. The helicopters stop one racer on the mainland dockside and circle around the vehicle in a shot copied from Birds Of Prey.

Deep Blue Sea (1999) - Renny Harlin's thriller about smart sharks has a medevac chopper brave a heavy storm to get an injured scientist away from the floating bio-lab, but a winch cable snag results in a crash 'n' burn disaster, trapping the research scientists and other survivors in the underwater complex.

Deep Impact (1998) - Mimi Leder's disaster movie has troop-carrying helicopters over-fly the entrance to bomb-shelter "ark" caves, while TV news choppers circle above the huge traffic jams. There's one great shot of the urban exodus from tower-block helipads that has dozens of choppers swarming above the evacuated city.

The Deer Hunter (1978) - after breaking out of a Vietnamese prison camp the hero (Robert De Niro) and his fellow escapees are picked up by a helicopter, but one of them (John Savage) falls into a river. There's also good use of helicopter sound effects in an earlier scene, which tells us these men's story has shifted from their home town into a war zone.

Defence Play (1988) - in a twist on the plots of Airwolf and Firefox, Russians sabotage a top secret USAF rocket launch, and steal the hi-tech mini-helicopter called, "Dart," designed especially for recon and scouting missions.

Déjà Vu (2006) - Tony Scott's SF mystery thriller has action scenes using various US Coast Guard, FBI, and New Orleans police helicopters - including AS-350 A-Stars, and HH-65 Dolphins (AS-365 Dauphin 2), during the ferry disaster sequence, and later for the airboat chase.

Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection (1990) - "this action movie has an SA-361 Dauphin (old model) is used as a gunship by the Delta Force operation, and an MD-500 is operated by the corrupt military general who is on the drug lord's payroll." - COSTAS TSAGANAS

Demolition Man (1993) - the dramatic opening shot of this satirical SF actioner has Sly Stallone's super-cop carried by a paramilitary helicopter into scenes of Los Angeles on fire.

Demons (1985) - the most absurdly dramatic moment in Lamberto Bava's amusing zombie thriller is when a helicopter unexpectedly crashes in through the roof of a crowded cinema, making the audience dive for cover!

Derailed (2002) - on a hijacked train in Eastern Europe, the bad guys attempt to escape via rope ladder to a low-flying Bell JetRanger (poor quality green screen visuals), but the helicopter impacts a mountainside when the train enters a railway tunnel. Later, there's stock footage of a squadron of AH-64 Apache gunships, deployed by military authorities to derail the runaway train when it reaches a bridge. Images of a mighty Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion feature on the DVD box artwork, but (please note our disapproval!) that helicopter does not appear in this film.

Desperate Measures (1998) - a police helicopter is shot at, and damaged, by fleeing felon (Michael Keaton), pursued across a San Francisco bridge by hero cop (Andy Garcia).

The Devil's Own (1997) - a British Army SA342 Gazelle appears in a couple of scenes during the search for IRA terrorists.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - "in the climax of this James Bond movie (starring Sean Connery), a squadron of USAF helicopters (including a Bell 206B JetRanger, two UH-1H Hueys, and three OH-6A Cayuse gunships for the the dirty work) attack the villain's secret base on an oilrig platform. A poor mercenary pilot gets killed in a Hughes 500." - NATHAN DECKER

low flying helicopter in Die Another Day

Die Another Day (2002) - James Bond adventure directed by Lee Tamahori includes a MD-600N NOTAR bird falling - on purpose - out of a damaged cargo plane during 007 and his female sidekick's escape from the villain's airborne HQ. The helicopter's pilot manages to start its engine (in freefall!) for a controlled descent, just in time to avoid crashing. An earlier scene, set in Cuba, features an MD-900 Explorer. Both of these choppers were provided by Eastern Atlantic Helicopters, and flown by Simon Oliphant Hope.

Die Hard

(1989) - John McTiernan's excellent hostage thriller boasts spectacular night-time rotary action as two police helicopters carrying FBI agents are blown off the rooftop of a besieged office tower block when the bad guys detonate their stash of explosives inside the building.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) - set in Dulles airport, this action sequel features a pair of Hueys that carry a US Army special forces team into the area, when hi-tech terrorists seize control of landing aircraft. Later, there's a low-flying TV news chopper (Aerospatiale AS350-B) that pursues a Boeing 747 cargo jet down the runway and prevents some bad guys from escaping. The hero (Bruce Willis, reprising his role from the original movie) jumps out of the A-Star helicopter onto the wing of the plane.

Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995) - "the heroes ride in a medevac Bell 206L-3 LongRanger at the end of the film, whilst the villain has a Gazelle that flies a little too close to some power-lines." - BILL HIERS

DIE HARD 4.0

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) - Vic Morrow is the top cop in this chase movie's helicopter pursuit of a gang of thieves' getaway car, using low-flying stunts in an attempt to force the Dodge Charger of ex-racing driver (Peter Fonda) off the road.

District 13: Ultimatum (aka: Banlieue 13: Ultimatum, 2009) - this futuristic action thriller sequel features three Bell 214 helicopters in the sequence where commando police land atop residential tower blocks in a targeted ghetto.

Doctor Who: The Ambassadors Of Death (1970) - this British TV sci-fi adventure with Jon Pertwee as the heroic Time Lord, has a chopper dropping grenades onto a military convoy, as part of the criminal plot to hijack a recovered space capsule - from the 2nd manned mission to Mars.

Doctor Who: The Green Death (1973) - another save-the-world adventure starring Jon Pertwee as the heroic Time Lord, this story about toxic waste and weird mutations is, sometimes fondly, remembered as "the one with the maggots"... It features a rotary action sequence (laughingly called an 'air strike') involving a single Hughes 300 helicopter, used by the RAF to drop explosive devices upon the hordes of squirming monsters emerging from a disused Welsh coal mine.

Dog Soldiers (2002) - in early scene of this British action horror film, an Army helicopter drops troops in the Scottish highlands on a special military training exercise that ends in many deaths when the soldiers are attacked by werewolves.

Domino (2005) - Tony Scott's action-drama about a female bounty hunter ends with a gun-battle between rival mobsters in a Las Vegas skyscraper, and stray bullets hit the cops' Eurocopter AS 550 that's circling the tower. The helicopter crashes and explodes in the street.

Doom (2005) - Andrzej Bartkowiak's sci-fi actioner based a popular shoot 'em up video game, features a hi-tech super-helicopter in a brief CGI sequence, transporting a squad of space marine commando types from their home base to a teleportation portal.

Doomsday (2008) - this sci-fi action thriller features an Army 'Huey' type helicopter, used for the military retreat from Scotland. Next, there's an Agusta A119 Koala, which carries the heroine (Rhona Mitra) northwards from London. Later, the new Prime Minister flies, with troops, in an Aerospatiale SA 321J Super Frelon (armed with a door gun), for a meeting with the heroine. Finally, a battered Chinook transport airlift flies over the ruined city of Glasgow.

Do Or Die (1991) - this Andy Sidaris adventure features a helicopter attack on the heroines' jeep, which is dealt with by an anti-aircraft rocket launched from a walking stick gizmo! The movie also has a visit to a quarter-scale model plane airshow, featuring a nifty air cavalry gunship.

DRAGON WARS

Dreamcatcher (2003) - Lawrence Kasden's film of the Stephen King novel, concerns four psychic heroes fighting off an extraterrestrial invasion of Earth, and features a spectacular helicopter air strike by Apache gunships against the crashed alien spaceship. In a later scene, a crazy military chief (Morgan Freeman) pilots a Hughes 500 armed with a machinegun, and strafes the wooded grounds of a reservoir station to shoot another soldier (Tom Sizemore), but the chopper is hit by return fire, so it crashes and explodes (off-screen).

Dune (1984) - no helicopters appear in David Lynch's magnificent space adventure, but this film has a rare screen appearance for an ornithopter flying machine based on flapping wings instead of rotor blades.

Frank Herbert's Dune (2000) - a TV serial remake of Lynch's epic SF drama features even more screen time for winged 'thopters than the original movie, and these bird-wing style flying machines are realised with first class digital effects for the aerial scenes.

Sequel miniseries Children Of Dune (2003) continues the space opera and features yet more superb CG visual effects of airborne golden ornithopters.

Dus (2005) - this overlong and tiresomely macho Bollywood action thriller, features a brief helicopter stunt during the operatic finale in Canada, as one of the super-cop heroes drives a car-bomb away from the stadium, and gets airlifted to safety from the moving vehicle, just before the runaway jeep falls into a ravine and promptly explodes.

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